The COVID-19 Bridge Fund supports European agrifood startups that have been affected by coronavirus, as part of the EIT Crisis Response Initiative.
As part of the EIT’s Crisis Response Initiative, this activity directly contributes to the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Startups with high impact and growth potential have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Many innovation activities needed for ventures to bring their solution to market are being delayed and disrupted, customer adoption has slowed down and raising capital from external investors is proving more challenging.
As announced in August 2020, we are investing €5.4 million in 13 high-impact agrifood startups to help them adapt to COVID-19, to continue critical innovation to transform our food systems and to bridge the gap towards their next investment round. A total of €4.088M will come from the EIT’s Crisis Response Initiative, and €1.3M of additional funds has been provided by EIT Food to give much-needed extra support to ventures throughout the pandemic.
The selected startups cover a range of sectors with vast potential to create positive change, addressing one of EIT Food’s focus areas:
- Alternative proteins
- Sustainable Agriculture
- Targeted Nutrition
- Sustainable aquaculture
- Digital transformation of traceability
- Circular food systems
COVID-19 Bridge Fund recipients
- Agritask (€500K, IL) helps farmers and agribusiness consolidate data and make better decisions for more efficient and sustainable farming. Used already in 30+ countries and on 50+ crops
- Alberts (€360K, BE) is a food robotic company with a unique 1m2 smoothie & soup station that uses AI for personalised healthy food solutions
- Antofénol (€476.3K, FR) is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of a sustainable, low cost, chemical-free solution that preserves the shelf life and quality of fruit and vegetables. It replaces toxic chemicals and is made from agricultural waste from vineyards
- Consentio (€340K, ES) is an end-to-end food supply chain transaction platform. Their marketplace aims at improving ordering efficiency for all the players of the food supply chain - producers, cooperatives, whole sellers and supermarkets - meaning less food waste and greater levels of transparency
- Eatch (€500K, NL) is developing the world's first fully automated kitchen, including the complete cooking process from loose ingredients to the final product, enabling healthier, more personalised ready-to-eat meals
- Epinutra (€212.5K, NL) develops natural nutraceutical solutions. Their first product is Benesco TM, which acts directly on the root cause of heartburn pain
- Feltwood (€391.5K, ES) produces low-cost, biodegradable, mouldable, recyclable and compostable alternatives to plastic materials and products, developed from vegetal waste
- Foodpairing (€499.9K, BE) is using AI to develop digital flavour models for smart recipes. This will help consumer packaged goods companies improve product development and flavour development and encourage innovation
- Food Sourcing Specialists (€400K, ES) create compostable packaging for long-life semi-liquids and healthy sports nutrition
- Mimica (€404.5K, UK) develops Mimica Touch, a temperature-sensitive indicator cap or label for food freshness. It helps reduce food waste by taking the guesswork out of food expiry labels
- NapiFeryn BioTech (€466.2K, PL) extracts protein from rapeseed oil production waste streams for functional, nutritional and cost-effective protein isolates and concentrates. These ingredients are a sustainable alternative to animal-derived proteins, are nutritional, and can be used in a wide variety of applications
- Phytolon (€393.6K, IL) uses an environmentally friendly fermentation-based technology to produce natural food colours that are GMO-free, high-quality and sustainable
- Sencrop (€469.3K, FR) designs and sells connected weather forecast solutions for farmers to measure rain, hygrometry and wind speed. The sensors are cheap, robust, movable and easy to use, making more efficient and sustainable farming possible
Learn more about EIT Food's COVID-19 Rapid Response Innovation